A Solar Observatory in New Mexico Has Been Mysteriously Shut Down And Evacuated

CARLY CASSELLA

14 SEP 2018

Something is amiss in the state of New Mexico, and the chain of mysterious events has all the hallmarks of a sci-fi plot.

The state's Sunspot Solar Observatory, home to one of the largest active solar telescopes in the world, was shut down last Friday and all personnel evacuated. The FBI were on the scene almost immediately.

Employees and the public have been indefinitely banned from the premises, and the observatory's website now reads: "TEMPORARILY CLOSED".

No one seems to know what is going on - not even the local sheriff, who sent his deputies onto the scene only to find absolutely no specific threat.

"We've got people up there (at Sunspot) that requested us to standby while they evacuate it. Nobody would really elaborate on any of the circumstances as to why. The FBI were up there. What their purpose was nobody will say."

Nestled in the Lincoln National Forest at an altitude of 2,800 metres (9,200 feet), the observatory's remote wilderness location is exactly the sort of place where strange and suspicious stories take root.

A resident from the nearby town of Cloudcroft told the media that "nothing really happens" up there. Left completely in the dark, the resident said that the evacuation could be due to "almost anything".

The only hint so far? The local post office has also been shut down. But even their employees are confused.

"Right now, what we're told is that they've temporarily evacuated the area. We haven't been told why or when that expires," Rod Spurgeon, a spokesman with the USPS, told ABC 7.

Without any answers, imaginations have begun to run wild, and spine-tingling parallels have been drawn between the mysterious event and our favourite extraterrestrial plotlines.

A secret research facility that no one knows anything about is shut down without an explanation. The FBI steps in and the local sheriff is pushed out. Nearby residents are left completely in the dark.

"It may be somebody who threatened one of their workers. If that's the case, why didn't call us and let us deal with it? These guys are regular workers that work for this company. I don't know why the FBI would get involved so quick and not tell us anything".

The only acknowledgement that there is a growing number of conspiracy theories comes from Sunspot's website.

"With the excitement this closure has generated, we hope you will come and visit us when we do reopen," the homepage reads, "and see for yourself the services we provide for science and public outreach in heliophysics."